


The Growing Death

by booknfun



Category: Queen (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Fake Science, Unethical Medicine, inaccurate medicine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:21:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27767410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/booknfun/pseuds/booknfun
Summary: To Prevent a Plague in the future they go back to the past.  Wildly inaccurate science everywhere you look.
Kudos: 2





	The Growing Death

**Author's Note:**

> DL Bingo: Time Travel AU  
> Not sure I like where this went. This fic is not intended to start a fight about HIV or sexuality.

The Growing Death

Wildly inaccurate science of all types ahead. Wildly inaccurate medical scenes ahead. Me messing with Queen’s early history ahead.

May 2235  
People lay dead in the streets for days. Garbage trucks drive up and down streets and alleys picking them up and dumping them into large pits. Society has started to break down. There were food shortages and water shortages and medicine shortages. Riots ran rampant in cities which made containing the contagion even harder. People were scattering into smaller villages and trying to eek out some sort of life living directly off the land. The Growing Death still struck them down. Others tried to hide in bunkers and fortified towns. This didn’t work either. The Growing Death still found them.  
People would have flu-like symptoms for a few days and then suddenly between a week and a month later would suddenly grow deathly sick almost in the space of hours from perfectly fine to on a ventilator. Eventually scientists pinned it down a flu virus and HIV had united to become this Frankenstein monster of a disease. The Growing Death was essentially airborne and could survive on surfaces for several hours. The survivors threw everything including the kitchen sink at the virus. Unfortunately nothing worked for long and they were running out of time.  
A wild idea grew out of desperation. Go back in time and stop the virus from forming. The flu is too wide spread and mutated easily. However HIV was a disease that could be easily snipped in the bud. If they could reduce HIV to a small little known std that virtually no one got they could prevent The Growing Death from occurring.  
HIV had a small number of known superspreaders, people who inadvertently spread the disease to others, 90% of people who got HIV could eventually trace the origin of their infection to one of these 4 people. And all 4 of them got it from the same patient 0 who had taken a trip and caught something no one had a name for. Once historians and medical doctors realized how easily the chain of infection could be disrupted the choice was made blatantly clear. They didn’t have a name for patient 0 but they had the identities of the 4 superspreaders. Now sitting in a briefing room deep underground away from the outside world sat 3 people at a table and 12 people on chairs facing the table. There were 10 men and 2 women. They were the only people that could be found that were medically safe to send back.  
“Alright people let's get the briefing started. My name is Doctor Richter to my right is Dr Wayland to my left is Dr MacAllister. You have all been selected as the best candidates to successfully accomplish this task. It is at the utmost secrecy and importance. The United Earth Government and its scientists have been quietly working on this for 10 years. Frankly we need another year or two but the current situation has forced us to move earlier than what I like. The latest round of antibiotics have failed to produce the desired result. All of you were created in a lab and inoculated before you could be exposed. As you know our planet’s troubles began when a flu disease and HIV united to become a super disease. Now there isn’t much we can do about the flu part but there is a way we can deal with the HIV side. We know who the original super spreaders of the disease were. Now I’ve been told 3 out of four can easily be killed with little to no negative effect to the timeline. Unfortunately Superspreader #4 and as near as we can tell the originator of the particular strain of HIV that united with the flu virus is famous and needs to be until 1985 but by then the damage was already done and he had already settled down.” behind Richter 4 pictures of men as well as charts and graphs and data of all types. “Now thanks to Dr. Maxwell and Dr. Deacon, may they both rest in peace, we can go back. The disease will still exist but it should be kneecapped enough that it won’t unite with the flu virus. Two squads are going back with two teams each. Squad 1 is aimed at dealing with HIV, its superspreaders and patient 0. The flu spreads far more rapidly and easily than HIV does. Squad 2s job is classified. If you have a question please stand up, introduce yourself and then proceed.”  
A man with blonde hair in a crew cut raised his hand first standing up, “ John Clarke sir. How are we supposed to prevent #4 from getting it if we can’t kill him till after he has already spread it?”  
“Simple we go all the way back to the early 1970’s and give him the vaccine so he never catches the bloody disease in the first place.” came from Doctor MacAllister “That is our first and primary attempt not assasination! Vaccinate all of the superspreaders before they catch it in the first place. No need to kill’em if we don’t need to.”  
“Janice Leister. How will that work? It obviously didn’t work the first time if they caught it.” came from a young woman towards the middle.  
“HIV didn’t even have a name yet in the early 1970’s most of the superspreaders caught it in the late 70s early 80s. Scientists discovered the vaccine for HIV in the late 2020’s but the virus developed a resistance to it by 2090. None of them lived past 1995. The superspreaders never got the vaccine because it hadn’t been discovered yet. The vaccine you are going back with is the Super HIV Strain 4. It will absolutely kill the disease especially the versions running around back then. It's strong enough it doesn’t need any boosters and nearly 100% effective. You will even be given a transmitter within 24 hours you will know if the subject is protected against the disease. Subject#1 Marcus Klimt accountant aged 23. All their details are in your packet by the way where they are working where they are living and favorite places to visit. Subject #2 James Donovan construction worker aged 22. Subject #3 Lester Gray bartender age 24. Subject#4 Freddie Mercury might be going by Freddie Bulsara age 24 he has his own briefing book for you to read.”  
“David Flesher sir. So we vaccinate them and when they come in contact with the disease they won’t catch it and so therefore won’t be able to spread it. Why can’t we just go to the source patient 0?” came from one intense eyed man.  
“We’re not sure who patient 0 is. That is part of B team’s mission while A team is tracking the subjects inoculating them and waiting nearby to see if it worked. Squad 2 is being briefed separately you are Squad 1 your task is HIV. Over the next few days you will learn how to walk, talk, and act like normal people from the time periods you will be going to. You will learn everything we know about the targets and the best ways to get them alone. You will also be issued Neural neutralizers which will erase their memory of your existence. You are going to be pre-implants and Team A will be pre-cell phone for that matter. When they’re going 99% of homes do not have a computer in the home most people have never heard of a computer.” most of the gathered squad’s eyes were wide with shock. No implants? No Cell phones? Not even a Home Computer? Where were they going the dark ages?  
“Jacob Smith sir. Not a lot of women here to run a proper honey pot operation.” This one came from an intelligence background. There were only 2 women and they were on the team for Patient 0.  
“Actually neither of the ladies are in Team A. Three of the men are definitely homosexual. The fourth is under great debate as to his gender preference year to year. But in 1970 he is ‘heterosexual’ and devoted to his girlfriend Mary you will have to grab him another way. Which does remind me everyone will be getting booster shots so you don’t spread our germs to them. You are now under the strictest quarantine.”  
“It says in their dossiers they all probably caught HIV in the late 1970’s why go back all the way to 1970 why not a little later?” Jacob Smith again.  
“Because the later you go the harder it will be to find Subject#4 alone long enough to kidnap him and inoculate him. By 1971 he had moved in with his girlfriend. To top it off after 1974 we can’t guarantee they will be in London when you arrive. Freddie Mercury becomes the lead singer of a very popular music group and our ability to go backwards isn’t perfected enough to pinpoint precise dates and times when he might be in London. We need to send you back to a time where we know all 4 superspreaders are all still in one general location and if they are gone that they will be back shortly and not on a world wide tour. In 1970 all 4 were in London; in 72 one will move to New York with frequent trips to California for business.” Richter responded.  
“Arthur Longwell sir. That's why we can’t just off him he becomes a major celebrity.” built like a brick wall “Yes”  
“NO you can’t off any of them because it's not necessary! Inoculate and leave.”MacAllister reaffirmed. “Why the hell is your first idea to kill them?”  
“This plan has been worked on for some time. During our initial introduction to the plan we were told that for the safety of the future they had to be assassinated. It was only in our last briefing by our superiors that we were told that the plan changed.” Longwell responded.  
MacAllister flung his hands up while getting up from the table. “Of course they did. They told you for multiple years it was an assasination mission. Well it's not. Go back inoculate, wait 24 hours and then come back.” Wayland got up and whispered into his ear while urging him back into his chair.  
“Dr. Wayland will be in charge of your training to blend into your surroundings in the time periods you will be going to. The times you are going to are in their own ways radically different from our own.” Richter continued ignoring MacAllisters outburst.  
Dr. Wayland stood up “Alright everyone follow me your training begins now.” They were all divided into 4 teams. Squad 1 Team A gets the most intensive training. They need to blend into everyday society and somehow inoculate the 4 superspreaders. They learned everything the historians knew about the individuals. With Individual of Interest #4 there is actually a lot more information out than the other three due to his celebrity. To prevent accidental contamination they did not receive any of his music as it was felt that they might accidentally slip up. Several Weeks later they were shipped back in time to prevent the disease.  
Sitting behind the moon the time ship would wait for them. The team would find one of the targets, knock them out and transport them to the ship. The medical bay was automated and would inoculate the victim and put a small dissolvable transmitter that would monitor the body's acceptance of the vaccine. It would then send the person right back and he would be given the withdrawal drug and a flash of the neuralizer and sent back to their life with a fuzzy few minutes and a small circular bruise about the size of a quarter.  
They were beamed into an abandoned building. Arthur immediately wandered to a window to see if they arrived close to when they needed to be. “Looks about right. I see a newspaper stand. I'll go peak at the date and be right back. Stay here.”  
Jacob Smith “We start with the 3 easy ones; they hit the same spots on the same days and have steady jobs.”  
“Sounds like a plan.” David Flesher replied. Looking around at the rundown building they were in.  
Arthur popped back in. “We are dead on target guys. April 13 1970.”  
Jacobs’s eyes lit up “Perfect we do the easy three first then track down Mercury.”  
“Sounds like a plan. We should be less than a block from A&B. Two out of three are regulars there and the third shows up on occasion.” The three time travelers quietly entered the city streets walking towards the A&B. They had been given some money but all had period looking jewelry to hock for more money as well as uncut gemstones none were spectacular enough to be memorable but still should see them through most of their time here. On the way there Jacob spotted just a buyer and seller. He crossed the street and went in and came back out a few minutes later. “How’d it go?”  
“Easy sell. I only did two strands though. Don’t want to drop too many at the same time.”  
The three of them strolled into the A&B trying to local casual. Two went to an empty table towards the back where they could watch the door while Jacob went to the bar and bought 3 beers and a pizza. While waiting for the bottles he looked around the bar and couldn’t believe his luck one of their targets was at the bar. They locked eyes and Jacob carefully signaled his interest which made Target #2 smile and nod towards the bathroom which he accepted. Jacob grabbed the beers and dropped them off to the table and went into the bathroom. The stakes were insanely high. The entire team would do whatever they needed to in order to pull this off. His victim went into the bathroom first a few minutes later he was transported to the ship. Five minutes later they were both leaving. Subject#2 James Donovan thought he had a very nice shag in the bathroom and actually he had just been vaccinated for HIV.  
“Oh my god really?” Arthur said with a laugh.  
“Door.” David muttered into his drink. Subject 3 just waltzed in. It took all night to get Lester Grey alone. But quietly at 3am Lester Grey fell asleep in his bed only to get sedated and sent to the ship. A few minutes later he was sent back down none the wiser. The team were transported back to the ship to sleep. In the morning they got the transmission from the hometime. The disappearance of half of the superspreaders had already made a huge change for the better; they were to proceed and get the other two superspreaders. Two days later they were able to vaccinate Marcus Klimt. He got himself so drunk he passed out in the alley. Once they were done they dropped him off into his apartment. The first two vaccinations were a success. For a man who was going to be famous finding Freddie Mercury turned out to be far more difficult than they imagined. The team heard from the home time the virus was still present and was still killing rapidly but took nearly a full decade longer to get started.  
It was sheer luck that they found the advertisement Queen live at Imperial College. The group wasn’t complete yet John Deacon wasn’t there yet. But they didn’t need him, only the singer. Freddie Mercury was undeniably sexy and had a command of the stage. Next to him Brian May with the Red Special hair not even fully grown out yet like so many of his pictures portrayed but still crazy curly. Roger Taylor on drums and singing back up wearing a pair of tiger print shorts and nothing else. The clothes were hilarious. Arthur managed to get backstage and helped the band load up their gear into two cars. Brian and Roger left in one both had early classes. The Bassist went another in a flash of squealing tires. Arthur was surprised they had left their singer who was just wandering out of the auditorium. “Um they kind of left already.”  
“Of course they did. I live in the wrong direction for all of them. I usually walk home.” Freddie was in street clothes, his stage costume in a garment bag and a messenger bag slung across his torso.  
“Want me to walk you home? I’d love to buy you a beer or two.” Arthur offered “Maybe a late nite bar snack?”  
Freddie bit his lip and looked at Arthur and looked out in the distance. “I can't. I need to get home. I need to watch my sister tomorrow. Another time dear?”  
“Absolutely.” Arthur shook Freddie’s hand and casually strolled back towards the team. “Crash and burn he needs to get home to watch his sister in the morning.”  
“Maybe a bit of light breaking and entering?” offered David.  
Which turned out to be a disaster. Both neighbors had huge bitey barkey dogs. So that killed any idea of sneaking in through the back. The front the moment he started to jimmy the lock on the window lights came on and the alarm started to sound. David fled. Turned out it was Freddie’s father getting ready for work.  
Turns out even while not famous trying to get Freddie alone was nearly impossible. They tried fruitlessly for three weeks. Arthur acting like an unpaid roadie. David stalking him and Jacob acting like a devoted fan.  
“There we go guys all set.” Arthur stated tapping the trunk of the vehicle. Another successful show in a venue that no one would remember in a year. Freddie was bouncing out of the venue and darted into a third car tossing his stuff in the backseat. “Where’s he off too?”  
“Date with Mary.” Roger said with a sigh “it was all he would talk about since she said yes. Its so sweet I might get a bloody cavity the way we moons after her.”  
Brian smiled, “You’re just jealous.”  
“Am NOT!” Roger shouted.  
“Yes you are.”  
“Not.”  
“Are” The two of them were still fighting about it as they drove away. Not tonight then. David followed them from a distance hoping to get a chance at snagging him but after the date she dropped him straight home and he darted in the house to avoid the blasted unending rain.  
A few weeks later outside another venue. “Hey Freddie I still owe you a beer and a pizza want to hit the place down the road?”  
“Sorry love I’d love to but I got to work at the god awful time of 5am. I will eventually take you up on that beer though I swear.” Freddie then hailed a cab and disappeared into the night.  
“Are we ever going to get this guy?” Arthur muttered.  
“He is proving to be a lot tougher than expected. Come up for the night I doubt we’re getting anywhere tonight.” In a few years Arthur and Jacob would have gotten him no problem. This Freddie wasn’t ready for that yet and showing no signs of taking them up on any of their offers. Bassists come and go and they still couldn’t get the man alone. Finally what would be the final piece of Queen’s jigsaw puzzle fell into place John Deacon joined the group. They still couldn’t get him alone.  
Turns out it was finally Arthur that got him after months of trying. It was after a show and Freddie didn’t have to work the next day nor did he have a date after the show nor did he have to take care of his sister. He got totally wasted. Quietly he got sedated and sent up. Success it was finally done right? They all breathed a sigh of relief. WRONG. Alarms and bells began to ring. The sickbay sprang into horrifying action. Freddie’s body started to seizure and foam started to come from his mouth. All the color disappeared from his skin and the heart monitor started to scream at it flatlined. Freddie had a huge negative reaction to the vaccine. Finally things started to get quiet again as the defib machine restarted his heart. As needles were pushed in full of drugs to counteract the reaction. Finally things came to a stillness. The sickbay was able to stabilize him but just barely. They could not risk giving him the vaccine again. They all went to sleep horrified that they nearly killed him when the world still needed him and now not knowing what to do.  
“Now what?” David asked the next morning during breakfast. Freddie would be okay but he was still unvaccinated. In order to save his life they had to nullify the vaccine before it could do its work.  
“We send word to the home time. They send us a different vaccine. I ordered a few extra tests to see which vaccine might work better and there are a few good options.” Jacob replied.  
“Time to tell them the bad news.” Arthur got up and went to the bridge.  
“This was not anticipated.” Richter said in horror.  
“Yes it was. By me.” MacAllister snapped. “In the medical storage bay you will find other vaccines for HIV and flu as well as nanogenes if absolutely necessary.” David rushed away and into the medical storage bay (well locker really it was a tiny ship) sure enough different vaccines for both diseases as well as a few other things. “You cannot give it to him for at least 3 days. And considering his condition it's not safe to return him to the surface.”  
“So what do we do? They’re going to notice he’s gone. Arthur did anyone see you leave with him?”  
“No the rest of the band and crew left by the time Freddie was drunk enough to grab and it was still busy enough I doubt anyone will remember we were together.”  
“Return to the surface and monitor what’s going on.” Jacob ordered. “Mercury can’t leave this ship till he’s vaccinated.”

Meanwhile Bomi and Jer noticed he didn’t come home. Bomi thought he had just crashed at someone’s house because he got too wasted to make it home. Jer had a bad feeling. Bomi was angry at Farrokh the next night at dinner, still wasting his time and money away at stupidity. When he came home they were going to have a serious talk about his future. When Bomi came home the next day it was to find out that Freddie was legitimately missing. None of his friends knew where he was, none of the people he worked with knew where he was and no one had seen him since the bar after the show. Freddie had seemingly disappeared into the night not to be found. The bartender remembered seeing him that night but not when he left or with who. They started to put up missing posters and checking hospitals. Roger quietly checked morgues. No Freddie. Freddie Mercury was missing. The police began to investigate it thinking it may be connected to several hate groups.  
“They think a hate group kidnapped him?”  
“Yes and I think they are going to raid one of their primary hangouts.” Arthur told David. ”Maybe we can tie him up, give him some convincing looking bruising and put him in their basement? No one will believe a word they say once the police find him. It would be a great explanation as to where he was.”  
“Could work he has some nasty bruising anyway from the equipment used to resuscitate him not to mention from the seizures.” Jacob said spinning slowly in his chair. Mercury was now vaccinated against the virus. He could be returned at any time. “David you think you can slip a transport disk into the basement?”  
“I’ll do my best.” David was able to do it with ridiculous ease. The group were all dead drunk. The best part was in the basement was a whole bunch of illegal drugs and weapons and a small fenced in area that looked suspiciously like a kennel but would work great for a temporary prison for Mercury he slid the transporter disk into the space. David watched from a distance and saw the police starting to form later that afternoon and gave Jacob the signal. Two hours later Metro raided the house. An hour later the metro found the basement and Mercury still unconscious; he was immediately transported to the hospital. The whole gang denied knowing anything about the singer in the basement.  
They contacted home time the timeline now said that the Singer had been Kidnapped and 7 went to jail on those charges and an additional 15 were charged with other crimes relating to guns or drugs or probation violations. Mercury never remembered a thing. One of the drugs on the table was rohypnol, many speculate that was why he couldn’t remember. The Growing Death ceased to exist as a disease. They went home content that they had done their job. And they had but things did change for Freddie and Queen’s future had been altered.

The Raid…  
“This group is known for its white supremacy and has protested Queen in the past. They are suspected of having drugs and weapons in the house we are about to raid. There are witnesses that say several members of the group were in a local tavern and were very jubilant and when the Mercury story came on during the news said with distinct authority that he would never be found alive. We are to go in to secure all the gang members and question them to see if they have any knowledge of Mercury or his whereabouts alive or dead. Any questions?” Captain Reynolds stated.  
“What’s the likelihood of him being alive at this point? Mercury I mean.” came from a younger patrolman not quite a rookie but still so very new.  
“To be blunt its very unlikely at this point. More likely he’s dead somewhere. Whether this gang had anything to do with it is the question. We’ve been wanting to raid them for a while but didn’t have sufficient evidence for the warrant. Thanks to the Mercury comment we finally have a warrant and will happily raid it. If we find illegal weapons and drugs rather than Mercury I’m fine with that. We can only hope Mercury will show up on his own. Maybe he really long forgot to tell anyone vacation.” someone snorted “Yeah I don’t believe that either. Lets go.”  
The door was bashed in and the police came pouring thru on both sides front and back. Gang Members jerked awake from their drunken stupors they were quickly overwhelmed by the police. Gradually they were handcuffed names received and questions. No one knew anything about anything naturally. They were pulled out and brought to the precinct while the police searched the premises. One eagle eyed veteran found the secret door to the basement hidden in a walk-in pantry. Down they went weapons drawn crates of guns, rifles, shotguns, and knives created a maze that suddenly opened to a table where drugs were being packaged for sale mostly heroin and acid though there was some cocaine waiting its turn. More boxes and crates mostly weapons some white pride propaganda pamphlets and books. These people were going away for a long time. One rookie nudged the captain and pointed into the darkness with his flashlight. Chain link fencing in a basement. The captain stopped his perusal of the white supremacy nonsense and made his way to the back of the basement. There unconscious hands and feet bound with zip ties and a gag stuffed in his mouth still in the clothes he went missing in was Freddie Mercury. He was still alive by some miracle of fate. The gate was locked with a padlock. “Bring me every key you found on the suspects now.” The captain shouted into his walkie talkie. “And get the EMT’s down to the basement. We found Mercury and he’s still alive.” The officers already moving to grab the keys pulled out of the pockets of the gang members all stopped in shock before moving in rapid action. An ambulance had been standing by just in case things got messy they were immediately rushed down to the basement. The key was located quickly and its owner noted the gang’s leader Seth. Now known as primary suspect #1 of Freddie Mercury’s kidnapping. A quick snip of the zip ties and his pulse was taken. He was slid carefully onto a stretcher and he was pulled out of the basement. All over London police men and women had heard that call. Mercury was alive and suspects were arrested.  
Freddie’s body arrived in a whoosh and sudden shock of movement. Tests were run, pictures were taken Freddie remained unconscious. His parents were finally called. Jer burst into tears seeing her son laying so still on the bed. Bomi held her shoulders and looked towards the doctor. “How bad is it? Will he live?”  
“It could have been worse, it also could have been better. He is in a low level coma. He is showing some minimal brain damage on the scans we have done.. How affected he will be in his daily life is unknown until he wakes up. There is a lot of bruising but it will all heal in time. Brain Damage is for life however.”  
Bomi breathed in deeply keeping his eyes closed. Jer cried into his chest. He should have picked Farrokh up from the venue he had been right there. Farrokh constantly begged him to come listen but he never did. He could have. He had time. He was in the area, entry had been free if only he had parked the car and went in. He could have brought his son home rather than have him disappear into the night. Jer just wanted her baby back. The rest of the band got called by Bomi while his wife stayed by Freddie's side faithfully waiting for Freddie to wake up. It took nearly a week.  
Bomi came in with Jer and Kashmira the doctor was standing at the nurses station and shook his hand. “He officially came out of the coma around 3am but he still hasn’t woken up. But at this point we are certain that he will. If he does come around hit the call button we need to talk to him to see how bad the damage is.”  
Freddie woke just as visiting hours was ending. The first thing he noticed was that he had a roaring bad headache. Second was that he was most assuredly not in his own bed. He could hear his parents and Brian oddly enough. The slow realization was that he was in the hospital. What on earth? How did he end up in the hospital? “I don’t suppose anyone has any aspirin?” he asked, not opening his eyes.  
“FRED? Are you awake?” Brian in shock.  
“Sshhhh I don’t know what happened but I have a pounding headache.” Freddie cautiously opened his eyes but the light from the overhead lights and the sun streaming into the room pierced his eyes like daggers making him reclose them with a groan.  
By now the doctor had been summoned. “Mr. Mercury are you awake?”  
“Yes but I have a horrible headache.” Nearby Jer was crying but now it was tears of joy. Her baby was back. Bomi was misty eyed as well. This was a lesson to him to listen to his son more and lecture him less. Brian had darted out to call the others. Freddie had woken up.  
“Hold on a moment.” lights were dimmed or turned off and curtains drawn. “Try opening your eyes now.”  
Freddie did so but cautiously. “A bit better.”  
“Good.” the next few minutes was a question and answer session to see what he knew and what was missing. He remembered most of the day he went missing but his memory went blank midway through the concert. Other tests of cognitive function followed and the results looked good. His light sensitivity started to fade the longer he stayed conscious. He left to grab Freddie some painkillers when he came back he was curled up around his mother breathing deeply.  
Jer looked up “He had a seizure.” The doctor nodded and put the drug into the drip still attached to Freddie’s hand.  
“I’ll talk to some of my colleagues this might be temporary a lingering result of the coma. It might be permanent. One of the neurologists we consulted with said the chance was high that if he woke up he would end up with some sort of seizure disorder.” the doctor said conciliatory. Bomi nodded a small price for Freddie’s life. Freddie slowly unclenched from around his mother as the painkiller did its magic.  
A few minutes later Roger came bouncing in “Freddie?”  
“Right here dear.” Freddie looked towards his friend and favorite drummer. Brian stood behind Roger with a smile. “Did you lot miss me?”  
“Yeah if you could not do that again we would appreciate it.” came from Roger  
“It's good to see you awake.” Brian with relief heavy in his voice. “John will be here tomorrow his father is borrowing the van by the time he gets here visiting hours will be over. He was overjoyed to know you’ve woken up as well.”  
“Folks I’m going to have to ask you to leave the detectives would like to speak with Mr. Mercury alone. Its also past visiting hours so I’d have to kick you out soon anyway.” the nurse walked in with a pair of men following behind her. Everyone left with extreme reluctance.  
Freddie looked at the detectives with trepidation. He had a great big blank spot in his memory. Over the next thirty minutes it becomes apparent that he has no memory whatsoever about the time he was missing. “I’m sorry I just don’t remember. I remember singing the end of White Queen sitting down at the piano while Brian introduced the next number then things get fuzzy. I kind of remember ending the show. I remember walking but then nothing until I woke up here at the hospital.”  
“We figured as much. There was an empty bottle of rohypnol in the garbage can next to where you were found and more vials of the drug nearby on a table. It’s used for sleep disorders but can cause short term memory loss in people who use it. Its causing all sorts of trouble in bars and clubs. People drop it in their victims' drinks and they become easily suggestable and lose any memory of the time they were under the influence of the drug. They were probably using it to keep you unconscious.” The older of the two detectives told him looking nearly at retirement age he was actually a lot younger. The job had aged him prematurely.  
“It nearly killed me. It still might technically.” Fred drank some water left by the nurse. He was really starting to wonder when and if he would be allowed to get something to eat.  
The younger of the two detectives cocked his head. “You care to elaborate on that statement?”  
“I had a seizure shortly after waking up. The doctor says it could be temporary but it's probably going to be permanent.” Freddie said eyes looking down at his hands. What was he going to do? Could he still play the piano and join the others on stage they were finally getting somewhere only to have this happen.  
“If it helps they are probably not going to see the outside of a prison for a long time.” The older detective stated.  
“It does actually. I’m not supposed to want revenge but I am happy to know that.” Freddie said with a bit of a smile. “Why though? Why did they do it? Why me specifically?”  
“You look gay though we are told by your band and parents you aren't. You aren’t white and the way you dress on stage made you their target. There are others like you but you were in their neighborhood they could find you. They could see you. What they were planning to do with you is the big question. Three people had the key to the gate where you were held. A fourth’s fingerprints were on the bottle. The rest of the gang apparently either didn’t have a clue the basement existed or didn’t know you were down there. At minimum they are looking at 7-10 years just on drug charges another 15 years on weapons charges. The four we can pin down as absolutely being involved will get life without parole. Some have already been sent to prison on parole violations.”  
“So hate that's why. My skin and my clothes. Well I can’t change my skin and I refuse to change my clothes.” Freddie said fiercely.  
“That's the spirit.” the younger detective said with a smile and watched as an orderly came in with a food tray. “Looks like it's time for dinner. We’ll keep you updated.”  
“Just one thing” Freddie said timidly “Did you get them all?”  
“Yes we did. Some have already cut deals and rolled over for lesser sentences. We got most of them in the initial raid and got the rest this morning.” The older detective said with a smile. “They’re really brave in a group, get them alone they become scared little boys.” The two detectives left.  
Freddie breathed a sigh of relief. Dinner was a really thin soup, apple sauce, mashed peas, and some fruit juice. He was so hungry he ate it all and fell asleep shortly afterwards. The next day when he woke up he watched the TV, the dramatic raid and the emts rushing in and pulling him out. They had been informed that he had woken from his coma and was in stable condition. The even played Keep yourself Alive in the background as they went over his life and the possible reasons why this gang kidnapped him. John peaked his head in just after lunch got pulled away. Freddie immediately opened his arms in an invitation for a hug which he got. John started crying. The two of them became fast friends after his audition. John was all alone in the city with no friends and feeling like the odd person out. Freddie understood the feeling and quickly they were thick as thieves.  
“I am never letting you walk home again.” John stated with finality.  
“Deal because I am never walking home again.” Freddie said with a grin.  
Gradually over the next 30 minutes everyone floated in and out and Freddie told his story. Honestly there wasn’t much of a story to tell just a giant blank spot. He did warn the band they now had a new problem on top of money and lack of gigs and lack of any interest by a real record company to pick them up. Roger Brian and Freddie and eventually towards the end John had paid for the first album to be produced out of their own money and got it distributed by literally going door to door to record stores to get it on the shelf.  
They all shrugged it off with a collective “We’ll figure that out later Fred. You're our singer.” Roger stated  
“It’ll be fine Fred if you have one on stage we’ll just have the light switch off of you and one of us will do a solo till you’re back.” Brian suggested  
Freddie looked surprised and pleased at the thought. “That's a great idea darling. We can do this!” Bomi smiled almost sadly and shook his head. Jer poked him with a frown. God sent Freddie back to them for a purpose.  
“EMI bought the place that produces our records for us and offered us a distribution deal. We took it.” Roger said sheepishly “It's not a record contract but they will distribute the record to record stores all over the world. But we get the lionshare of proceeds.”  
“Probably wanted to profit on the notoriety of the story while not having to keep us on the books long term.” Brian said bitterly  
“Well that's still a bit closer than where we were.” John said hopefully.  
Freddie considered for a moment. “Actually that might be to our benefit. But we’ll deal with that later.”  
Several days later he was released from the hospital. He gratefully laid in his own bed and stretched out. The shower beckoned like a siren he reluctantly got out of the bed and went into the bathroom. In the mirror was one lingering bruise about the size of a baseball on his upper left arm. It looked a bit like a wagon wheel with a darker spot in the middle and smaller spots going all around. Seeing it for the first time Freddie looked at it in horror. Now where the hell did it come from? Poking the spot it was a bit tender but not horribly so. When he goes to the doctor for a follow up the man shrugs it off it. The bruise was visibly starting to heal no one knew what happened to him; those days he was missing it probably happened then. Freddie glared at it in the mirror every single day until it was gone, eyes narrowed. It looked a lot like a vaccination scar he’d seen once.

**Author's Note:**

> Nothing is mine. Yes I know the first album came out 73.


End file.
